Your Decision Your Destiny by Pastor (Mrs) Wonuola Adetayo [Transcribed Message]

Your Decision Your Destiny

(A sermon by Pastor (Mrs) Wonuola Adetayo)

Text: Deuteronomy 30:19b-20a

The topic was slightly adjusted to Your Decision Your Destiny because your decisions actually shape your destiny.

I have set before you life and death, blessing and cursing: therefore choose life, that both thou and thy seed may live: That thou mayest love the LORD thy God, and that thou mayest obey his voice, and that thou mayest cleave unto him: for he is thy life, and the length of thy days. Deuteronomy 30:19b-20a

The summary of this passage is basically that your life is in your hands, your destiny is in your hands, and you are going to define what that is going to look like by the choices that you make. A person’s destiny is everything that happens to them in their life, including what will happen in their future, especially when you think that the future is controlled by someone or something else. When it is believed to be determined or controlled by someone else, this perspective make individuals feel like helpless puppets or victims of circumstances of their life. But many examples in the Bible prove this view as a jaundiced perspective.

Let’s consider the examples of people like King Saul. God called him to be a great king. He called him out of nothingness to greatness. Somebody would have said that’s his destiny, right? But that destiny was cut short by who? By Saul himself: by his decision. Another example is Eli the priest called out by God. His whole generation were supposed to serve as priests in Israel. But one day, God said, “Now I say otherwise”. Why? Because there were certain decisions and choices that caused that great destiny to turn into something else. Another good example is Samson. He was destined to be great. In fact, his mother was not permitted to take anything strong. From the womb, he was anointed to be the greatest man―strongest man―that ever lived. But his life was cut short. Did God change his destiny? No. Samson made certain choices that truncated the great plan that God had for him.

That’s why Moses and Joshua called the children of Israel. They called them and begged them saying, “Please, make informed choices.” God has special purpose for you and for me but brethren, we are equal actors in bringing these destinies into pass. We are equal actors; we are not victims―we are not puppets. God refused to take the willpower from man. So the power of choice lies with you.

Some people talk about faith. Faith may put opportunities in front of you but your destiny is ultimately determined by the decisions you make. Faith may bring opportunities before you. What you do with that opportunity is what determine your destiny. God has given every man a free will to make a choice. God also provided guidelines and principles to help us make informed choices. You’re the master of your destiny. So either by making decision or by abstaining from making a decision, you are picking a side that you are on.

We’ll consider this topic in three parts

• Definition of terms.
• Some fundamental destiny-defining decisions of life.   
• Key decision-making principles.

What is destiny? What is decision?

There are many decisions we’ll make in life but there are certain critical decisions that are fundamental. They would define your destiny if you get them right or wrong.

There are some principles that God has decided to share with us to help us in our decision making.

Decision is the act of making up your mind about something. You’ve got to make up your mind about something. Moses in Deuteronomy 30:19 was encouraging the children of Israel, telling them ‘Make up your mind about this issue. I have placed before you life and death; I have placed before you curses and blessings.’ And he was encouraging them: choose. You have to choose. So, that is decision. Decision is an opinion or judgement that is reached after due consideration. Sad to say that many people jump into decision without due consideration.

Moses was expecting the Israelites in Deuteronomy 30:19 to consider the value of life and the values of death. So he said, “I place before you life; I place before you death”. He expected them to weigh the two and make a judgement―to come up with an opinion. Decision is making a choice of action out of a range of options. Joshua urged the children of Israel. He said, ”Decide whom you will serve. Do you want to serve the God that your fathers served or do you want to serve the Gods of the Amorites among whom you dwell?” In Joshua 24:15a, He said, “And if it seem evil unto you to serve the LORD, choose you this day whom ye will serve.” You have to make a choice. Are you serving God? Are you serving mammon? Jesus said, “It’s impossible for a man to serve two things. Either you will love one and hate the other.” You cannot serve two masters at a go.

What is destiny? Destiny is a course of event that will inevitably happen in future. For example, Romans 8: 29 says, “For whom he did foreknow, he also did predestinate to be conformed to the image of his Son, that he might be the firstborn among many brethren.” There is no doubt. Before you were formed in your mother’s womb, God already had a plan. God planned something, but how that something is going to come about is depending on your choices and cooperation with him. Destiny is a predetermined course of events. Sometimes it is called fate or providence. Jeremiah 1:5 says, “Before I formed thee in the belly I knew thee; and before thou camest forth out of the womb I sanctified thee, and I ordained thee a prophet unto the nations.”

Brethren, destiny is a predetermined course of events that can be shaped, determined or affected by the individual. Destiny is the direct result or consequence of your past choices. Whether mental, verbal or physical, we make choices. This school of thought believes that you are the architect of your destiny.

Now, let us consider a few destiny-defining decisions. I call them fundamental because when you go wrong on these ones, it will be very difficult to rescue your destiny. Beyond the survival choices, we make choices as individuals on our education. Some of us, the schools that we went shaped who we are today.  Some of us, the friends, the character, your career. Our choices define us. You are who you are based on the choices that you make. Thus, you can change your destiny when you have the right knowledge and when you choose to put it to use.

The first destiny-defining decision is your choice of character. Your mother can flog, your father can flog you, your teacher can do likewise, your principal can suspend you but your choice of character is a personal choice. Your character is the sum of your thoughts, behaviours and actions. My question is: do you believe in ethics? Are you moral? Are you just?

Joseph in Genesis 39:7-10 and Daniel in Daniel 1:8 chose integrity as their character rather than compromise or deception. They had a choice. Nobody would have known if Daniel ate the king’s meal. Nobody would have known if Joseph slept with Potiphar’s wife. Nobody would have known but Joseph said “I cannot do this and sin against God.” He chose his character. Daniel chose his character. These choices advanced them towards their destinies of political greatness. If Joseph did not refuse Potiphar’s wide, there is no way Joseph would end up in prison. And if Joseph didn’t end up in prison, there is no way Joseph would have met the man who spoke for him before the king that I’ve met somebody. If Daniel did not meet up with the eunuch that I can’t eat this meal, we are Hebrews; please give us this, give us that, by the time he was taken to the king, there would have been nobody to speak for him.

Your character, your destiny. Judas Iscariot did otherwise in Matthew 26: 14-16 and Gehazi in 2 Kings 5:20-24. Both of them made wrong choices and destroyed their destinies. They both fell for the attraction of wealth, trying to reap where they did not sow and betraying their leaders. Judas ended up committing suicide and Gehazi became a leper, and he not only became a leper, he left a legacy of leprosy for generations behind him. Why? This was someone who was destined to have been the greatest prophet, right? Elisha inherited a double portion of Elijah’s anointing. Gehazi was to have inherited quadruple portion of Elijah’s anointing but he ended up as a leper. Why? He chose the wrong character. The Lord will help us in Jesus name. Amen.

The second fundamental decision is your choice of friends and associates. This is very fundamental, very fundamental. I have a best friend today whom I selected intentionally in school. When I was moving from the first year in the university to the second year, I spoke to a friend, thinking I had done well because I had a couple of A’s, some B’s and I had C’s as well. I asked her what her result was like and she said to me, “Straight A’s.” I didn’t say a word. In shame and embarrassment, I said to mysef, “Ehn ehn, somebody got straight A’s; our parents live on the same street; she has one brain, two arms and two legs like me; Wonu, are you okay?” The first thing I did was pack out of my hall―Moremi Hall―which was the centre of social life back then. I looked amongst my friends to see who is from a conservative home and identified the subjects I had issues in which were Mathematics-related ones. I then searched for someone who was very good in these subjects but not as good as I was in English so that we could help one another. So I chose my friend and we selected a room in the new quiet Fagunwa Hall. We happen to complement each other and she has since remained my best friend till today. I chose intentionally.

Choose your friend carefully. You become like those you associate with. My friend and I finished just shy of a first-class honours. My academic destiny changed because of my clear intentional selection of a friend and an associate. Show me your friend and I’ll tell you who you are. Amnon in 2 Samuel 13:3-5. Amnon had a wrong friend in Jonadab who gave him a wrong counsel that led Amnon to raping Tamar his sister. In the end, Absalom, Tamar’s brother, organised the murder of Amnon his half-brother two years later. Young men, be warned. Don’t die to have any young woman lest you die literally like Amnon.

Daniel had good associates; Daniel 2:17-25. They prayed together and counselled one another positively. The four fulfilled destiny. They sat down and prayed together when the king threatened to kill all the wise men. God ministered to Daniel and he was able to interpret the king’s dream and save everybody. What type of friends do you have? Are they only after food and club? Do you go to church together?

Esther surrounded herself with maidens. They could fast with her; Esther 4:16. The same friend I told you about have saved me from disaster many times. I’ll share just one instance for want of time. She lives in Chicago. So when I wanted to send my daughter to school overseas, Chicago was our first choice but it didn’t work out. So we decided on Atlanta, Georgia where we got an I-20 student visa. People advised us when we went for the admission process to let my daughter stay behind and start school already since she already has the I-20. I was tempted, so I called my friend for counsel. She suggested that we fast to hear God; so she fasted and prayed in Chicago while I did likewise in Atlanta. Afterwards, she instructed me to return to Lagos with my daughter and let her return to start school as was proper. I listened to her despite my cousins thinking it was stupid and a waste of money. I knew it was illegal and took my friend’s counsel. Lo and behold, a friend had a similar case but opted to leave the son behind. Eventually the son was deported and never studied in the United States.

Who are your friends? Who do you listen to? Who is counselling you? Be careful! The maidens fasted with Ester ad she won the battle against Haman. In selecting your friend, chose those who will add value to you and those that also can benefit from you. Judges 14:20 says, “But Samson's wife was given to his companion, whom he had used as his friend.” The wealthy man will collect the wife of the lazy man. Psalms 119:63 reads, “I am a companion of all them that fear thee, and of them that keep thy precepts.” Select godly friends, those that understand your language, not the people that says “You have come again with your Jesus.” Stay away from these kind of people. Proverbs 13:20 says “He that walketh with wise men shall be wise: but a companion of fools shall be destroyed.”

The third fundamental choice is your choice of life partner. The years you spend with your spouse is your longest period on earth; hence, your choice of spouse can make or mar your destiny. It can. Don’t be in a hurry. Some people are in a hurry. Samson made the first wrong choice in Judges 14:3 and in Judges 14:15-16, he got a great disappointment and betrayal. One would have thought Samson will learn his lesson. And then in Judges 16:4, Samson chose to fall in love again with Delilah, a Philistine. And therefore in Judges 16:5-20, calamity came.

When your parents plead with you not to kill them by incurring trouble, they are actually warning you not to kill yourself.

Now does God have a guide? Proverbs 3:5 says, “Trust in the LORD with all thine heart; and lean not unto thine own understanding. In all thy ways acknowledge him, and he shall direct thy paths.” Listen to God, listen to the leaders. A perfect example is Isaac. Isaac yielded his choice of life partner to his father and he was never disappointed. It is a type of how we, in this modern day, should yield our choice to our father in heaven. He knows the beginning from the end and the end from the beginning.

There are forbidden place from which you should not take a spouse. Don’t drink from forbidden water. 2 Corinthians 6:14 says, “Be ye not unequally yoked together with unbelievers: for what fellowship hath righteousness with unrighteousness? and what communion hath light with darkness?” Ezra 9:12 says, “Now therefore give not your daughters unto their sons, neither take their daughters unto your sons, nor seek their peace or their wealth for ever: that ye may be strong, and eat the good of the land, and leave it for an inheritance to your children for ever.” Many want to eat the good of the land yet also wants to pick from the forbidden places. It’s a conditional principle.

If you do what you are not supposed to do, you will see what you are not supposed to see. Samson did what he was not supposed to do and saw what he was not supposed to see. Eventually his eyes were plucked off. This is what happens when brethren marry from where they are not supposed to. They lose their vision even though they might still have physical eyes when they enter into the wrong relationships.

Another important decision is choice of location. We take it with levity but it’s important. Your location often determines your allocation. Abraham had to leave the familiar terrain of his parents to fulfil destiny. That story is summarised in Acts 7:2-3. Isaac, on the contrary was told in Genesis 26:2 not to leave Philistine because of famine. Where many of us are today is like a golden cage.

Isaac was going to leave due to economic downturn but Genesis 26: 2-4 says, “And the LORD appeared unto him, and said, Go not down into Egypt; dwell in the land which I shall tell thee of: Sojourn in this land, and I will be with thee, and will bless thee; for unto thee, and unto thy seed, I will give all these countries, and I will perform the oath which I sware unto Abraham thy father; And I will make thy seed to multiply as the stars of heaven, and will give unto thy seed all these countries; and in thy seed shall all the nations of the earth be blessed.” There is a place of multiplication. If you leave that place, nothing will happen. We need to be careful and be at the location where we’ll be blessed. In Genesis 26:12-14, Isaac prospered greatly so much that the country envied him. In Ruth 1: 1-5, Elimelech left when there was famine and he lost his life and two sons because of his wrong choice of location. It was Naomi who eventually corrected the choice of location. And she was able to recover destiny and became the great-grandmother of Christ.

Proverbs 14:12 and 16:25 repeated exactly the same thing, saying, “There is a way which seemeth right unto a man, but the end thereof are the ways of death.” Your location can determine your allocation. Click to tweet Psalm 85:12 says, “Yea, the LORD shall give that which is good; and our land shall yield her increase.” There is something connecting you to the land that is to yield your increase.

The fifth fundamental choice is your choice of spiritual practices and choice of spiritual development. For young men who want to marry, how close are you to God? For those who wants to have children, are you ready to be a parent? There’s a difference between a father and a sperm-donor. For young women who want to marry, can you manage a home? A lot of people are too carried away with the wedding day which is just a mere one-day show. Many people will not enter marriage if they know its real meaning.

The deeper your relationship with Christ, the better your decisions. The more disciplined you are spiritually, the better your decisions. Many want great destinies but refuse to be disciplined about the study of God’s Word. They run around all day chasing success when the secret to success lies in the Word of God. Success will be a mirage unless you go through the Word of God. 

Isaac always meditated on the word of God. He communed with God; he was submissive. He had a specific time and location for communing with God daily. Jesus overcame the devil through the Written Word. Joshua 1:8 says, “This book of the law shall not depart out of thy mouth; but thou shalt meditate therein day and night, that thou mayest observe to do according to all that is written therein: for then thou shalt make thy way prosperous, and then thou shalt have good success.” Psalms 1:1-2 says, “Blessed is the man that walketh not in the counsel of the ungodly, nor standeth in the way of sinners, nor sitteth in the seat of the scornful. But his delight is in the law of the LORD; and in his law doth he meditate day and night.”

Another important spiritual practice is prayers. Daniel was a man devoted to prayers. Luke 18:1 says, “And he spake a parable unto them to this end, that men ought always to pray, and not to faint.” Luke 21:36 says, “Watch ye therefore, and pray always, that ye may be accounted worthy to escape all these things that shall come to pass, and to stand before the Son of man.”

Finally, many want to be delivered but they refuse to discipline the flesh. Esther had to engage the fasting channel to activate her destiny. Some of these things will not happen until we fast. Matthew 17:21 says, “Howbeit this kind goeth not out but by prayer and fasting.”

To close, let’s examine three principles in making decisions.

First, consider the consequence. Every decision you make is a seed and you are going to reap it. Galatians 6:7-8 says “Be not deceived; God is not mocked: for whatsoever a man soweth, that shall he also reap. For he that soweth to his flesh shall of the flesh reap corruption, but he that soweth to the Spirit shall of the Spirit reap life everlasting.”

The second principle is the principle of lawfulness or expediency. 1 Corinthians 6:12-13 says, “All things are lawful unto me, but all things are not expedient: all things are lawful for me, but I will not be brought under the power of any. Meats for the belly, and the belly for meats: but God shall destroy both it and them. Now the body is not for fornication, but for the Lord; and the Lord for the body.” There are certain things that God will not permit a Christian to do even though it is lawful. Better for you not to do something that is going to cause another man to fall. He said, “It is better to tie a stone around a man’s neck and throw him in the well than for someone whose actions or decisions causes another to fall.” That is the difference between what is lawful and what is expedient.

Finally, be careful of your motives. For example, several young persons think it’s time for marriage for several wrong motives including freedom and a need for someone to take care of their cooking/laundry amongst others. What is motivating your decision? Be careful about what exactly it is. Don’t deceive yourself. God is checking your motives. Proverbs 5:21 says, “For the ways of man are before the eyes of the LORD, and he pondereth all his goings.” I pray none of us will miss it in the mighty name of Jesus. Amen.

In conclusion brethren, the most important decision you’ll make in life is your eternal destination. It’s okay to miss the world and gain heaven. If you gain the world and miss heaven, that is the worst. Matthew 16:26-17 says, “For what is a man profited, if he shall gain the whole world, and lose his own soul? or what shall a man give in exchange for his soul? For the Son of man shall come in the glory of his Father with his angels, and then he shall reward every man according to his works.” My prayer for every one of us is that we will not gain earth to lose heaven in the name of Jesus. Amen.